The University of California and its postdoctoral scholars and academic researchers reached a tentative agreement Tuesday that would elevate their pay to among the highest in the nation — but they won’t return to campus yet in solidarity with some 36,000 graduate student employees who remain on strike.
“We are proud to have reached agreements that address the soaring cost of living, and reflect the value of our contributions at UC,” Neal Sweeney, president of United Auto Workers 5810, said in a statement. “These agreements represent a new, best-in-class model that will improve quality of life — and the quality of research — for scientists across the U.S.”
The tentative deal involves two smaller bargaining units and does not settle the uncertainty roiling campuses systemwide over how to handle grading and final exams as fall terms draw to a close. That’s because the workers who do such hands-on work with students make up the vast majority of strikers — graduate student teaching assistants and researchers in two large units, UAW 2865 and SRU-UAW. They remain far apart on wage proposals.
Demonstrators picket at UCLA as nearly 48,000 University of California academic workers strike Nov. 14 in a labor action that could shut down some classes and lab work just weeks before final exams.
(Christina House/Los Angeles Times)
Advertisement
University of California academic workers walk the picket line at UCLA.
(Gary Coronado/Los Angeles Times)
Demonstrators picket at UCLA.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Alex Chubick, a student researcher in the human genetics department, leads demonstrators in a chant at UCLA. Chubick is getting ready to graduate but says it’s important to fight for new students coming in.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Union leaders say the strike will be the largest at any academic institution in history.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
It wasn’t immediately clear how many classes, labs or scheduled academic activities were interrupted Monday, but students at UCLA reported some classes canceled.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
In addition to pay increases, workers are seeking child-care subsidies, enhanced healthcare benefits for dependents, public transit passes, lower tuition costs for international scholars and better accessibility for workers with disabilities.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Advertisement
International students, the strikers said, have to pay non-resident tuition fees, which put them on a “treadmill” to complete their degrees in five years, because the university won’t cover their fees beyond five years.
(Adriana Heldiz / San Diego Union-Tribune)
A group of 33 state lawmakers sent a letter in support of the graduate student workers urging UC President Michael Drake to bargain in good faith.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
UC has offered a salary scale increase of 7% in the first year and 3% in each subsequent year, but workers have said that’s not sufficient.
(Adriana Heldiz / San Diego Union-Tribune)
UC San Diego academic workers strike in front of Geisel Library on campus.
(Adriana Heldiz / San Diego Union-Tribune)
Unionized academic workers, student researchers, and post-doctoral scholars demanding better pay and benefits rally at University of California Irvine on Nov. 15, in Irvine.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Union leaders are asking for large wage increases for academic workers because most of their members are “rent-burdened,” which means they spend more than 30% of their income on rent.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Advertisement
Among other demands, union leaders are asking for $2,000-a-month reimbursement for childcare, full tuition subsidies for UC childcare programs and expanded paid family leave options.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Union leaders point out that graduate workers deserve a living wage while powering UC’s cutting-edge research and premier coursework.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
Unionized workers have also demanded free public transit passes for academic workers, cash incentives to commute sustainably and subsidies to purchase and maintain bikes and e-bikes, as well as improved campus cycling infrastructure, according to the UAW.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
UC Irvine students walk in support of 48,000 unionized academic workers across the University of California system on Monday morning.
(Don Leach / Daily Pilot)
A banner supporting UC unionized academic workers is displayed by protesters at UC Irvine on Monday.
(Don Leach / Daily Pilot)
Students demonstrated near the student union building at UC Irvine on Monday and pledged to be back for as long as it takes to get a deal done.
(Don Leach / Daily Pilot)
Advertisement
Two students walk with picket signs on Monday on US Irvine campus. Substantial progress seemed unlikely, at least Tuesday, as university officials offered to meet with only one of the four units in the afternoon, and had made no offer to meet again with the other bargaining teams.
Christina House is a staff photojournalist with the Los Angeles Times. She officially joined the visual journalism team in 2017 after 10 years as a freelance photographer. House grew up in Long Beach and is a graduate of Cal State Fullerton. Her love for photography started when she visited the Philippines, her mother’s native country, at age 7. That unforgettable experience inspired her to pick up a camera. House won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Feature Photography and the 2022 Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for Domestic Photography for “Hollywood’s Finest,” an intimate look into the life of a pregnant 22-year-old woman living on the street. She received the 2021 Cliff Edom New America Award and was honored in the portrait series category for her work on “Game Changers: A Celebration of Women in Sports” from the 2021 National Press Photographers Assn.’s Best of Photojournalism awards.
Irfan Khan was a staff photographer with the Los Angeles Times from 1996 to 2024. He previously served as a freelance photographer for the publication beginning in 1989. Khan started his career as a commercial photographer in 1973 in Pakistan and moved to Dubai in 1977, where he worked for an advertising agency and at a leading English newspaper. Khan’s assignments have taken across Southern California and the U.S. Internationally, he has photographed the Hajj in Saudi Arabia and war zones of the Pakistan/Afghanistan border in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He was part of the team awarded the Pulitzer Prize in breaking news for coverage of the 2015 terrorist attack in San Bernardino. In his spare time, he enjoys listening to semi-classical music of the Indian subcontinent and playing cricket on Sundays.
Gary Coronado was a staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times from 2016-24. He is a 2007 Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature photography for images of Central Americans risking life and limb as they jump aboard the trains from southern Mexico bound for the United States and a 2005 Pulitzer Prize finalist in breaking news photography for team coverage of hurricanes. He began freelancing for the Orange County Register and relocated to South Florida in 2001, when he was awarded a fellowship through the Freedom Forum. Coronado grew up in Southern California and graduated from USC.
